The newly deployed system –currently being offered to thousands of employees at BBVA’s headquarters in Madrid– uses the facial recognition system developed by the startup Veridas – a JV of BBVA and Das-Nano.

BBVA is developing payment methods based on biometric technologies to make checkout at stores ‘invisible’. It is already being used in cafeterias and restaurants at Ciudad BBVA. More than 1,000 employees already use an app to automate payments and testing has begun on a biometric facial recognition system based on technology from the startup Veridas, a JV of BBVA and Das-Nano in 2017.

Customers in the bank’s restaurants simply have to smile (or not, depending on their mood) at a camera booth next to the cash registers, and provided they have registered, the system identifies them and automatically bills the customer for the purchase.

In the bank’s cafes, colleagues can also use the dedicated Selfie & Go app to order their drinks ahead, with the system automatically charging the customer when they collect.

For the customer, these technologies speed up both the sales and ordering process, reducing the need to stand in lines or put down what they are carrying to find their payments cards or cash.

But, and with their consent, it also allows the retailer to push promotions to them – such as a free coffee with their meal, or a buy-nine-get-the-tenth-for-free deal.

For the retailer, it saves them time and helps increases sales by making the process of buying and paying for something quicker and more efficient.

In order to use the new system, users just need to register in the app with a selfie, active their smartphone’s Bluetooth and localization, and look at the camera so that it can identify their face.

Transforming payments

The new payment system is part of BBVA’s determination to lead the development of frictionless payments in order to transform customers’ purchase experience in stores. This new trend allows the payment part of the purchase process to “disappear” or to be made practically non-existent for the user.

While at the moment the system is only being used to take payments for pre-set meals and drinks, the next iteration should allow the system to actively scan the customers tray and to bill them for what is on it.

More and more companies and consumers are turning to biometric technologies to enhance their authentication and payment methods. Compared to traditional password-based mechanisms, these solutions provide a better user experience and increased security.

The bank is also working on solutions for other retailers that link RFID tags into the system, so customers can choose what they want within a store, and then as they engage with the camera to pay, the value of the goods chosen is calculated and the payment made.

The Selfie & Go system was designed along with Sodexo Iberia, the Group’s restaurant partner. It forms part of a pioneer project in the world to first bring these new experiences to the restaurant and cafeteria sectors, and later to other stores.

Commenting, Guillermo Sanchez, who heads the project for BBVA’s Global Payments team, said: “It’s a fantastic solution that has customer experience at its very core. It’s fast, secure, and will fundamentally change the ways people pay for good and services – literally taking things at face value.”

PSD2 and GDPR are no longer strange-sounding terms. After digital regulation caught the attention of supervisors and financial regulators in Europe during 2017, it doesn’t look like 2018 will be any different, according to the Financial Regulation Outlook report from BBVA Research.
As BBVA Research points out, the digitization of finances offers opportunities and challenges not only to financial service providers and customers, but also to regulators and supervisors. Therefore, the “regulation and supervision frameworks need to evolve and adapt” to the new environment.

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